Sometimes someone will come up to you and want you to “do a trick” and it’s not a good time for you.

I would perform a very quick Perverse Magic effect.

I would ask if that person had a coin and I would take it.

I would appear to place the coin from my right hand into my left (of course retaining it in my right by whatever method) and then say that I’m going to make the coin float. I would snap the fingers of my right hand (making it appear that the hand is empty) and then open my left hand and then be surprised when the hand is empty.

(In Perverse Magic what you say will happen – here that the coin will float – can’t be as strong as what does happen – here the vanish.)

I am confused and I start to look for the coin by first putting my left hand in my left pocket and then my right hand in my right pocket. I find the coin there and, with a confused look still on my face, I return the coin.

Williamson Three Card Trick

David Williamson’s Three Card Trick is a wonderful example of Perverse Magic.The effect is similar to the Eleven Card Trick (above – see February 2, 2003) but, where I use the Eleven Card Trick as a major effect (sometimes the only effect that I may perform on a particular occasion), I use an abbreviated version of the Williamson trick as an entertaining interlude in a routine.

I do it as follows:

1 I palm 3 cards from the top of the deck and then give the deck to a spectator.

2 I ask the spectator to give me the top card which I take in my left hand andthen I ask for the bottom card which the spectator puts on top of the one in my left hand.

3 I square the two cards adding the three palmed cards as I ask the spectator for a card from the middle of the deck she is holding.

4 I then say I will do the famous “3 Card Trick”.

5 I have 6 – they think 3.

6 I then “buckle count” the 6 as 4 and look confused. I give one back (I now have 5.) “No – I need 3.”

7 I repeat the buckle count showing the 5 as 4 and again give one back -, looking confused. (I now have 4).

8 I now buckle count the 4 as 3 and look satisfied.

9 “Anyway—I take 2 in my right hand and I—” – but there are still 4!

10 “Oh forget it!!”

Classifications Of Perverse Magic

I think it might be helpful to review my classifications of Perverse Magic.

I previously gave 6 classifications of Perverse Magic as follows:

1 Something happens without the performers knowledge or without the performer wanting it to happen.

As for example Cardini’s act where fans of cards or whatever keep appearing to the amazement and then annoyance of Cardini. Or when Roy Benson is catching large white billiard balls and all of a sudden a red ball appears and Benson looks in a book to see what happened.

2 The performer says he's going to do a trick but something else happens.

An example might be coming out with a bird in a birdcage and announcing that you're going to make the cage and the bird float when, to your surprise the cage and the bird vanishes.

(It's VERY important in this situation that what happens is stronger than what you say will happen.)

3 The magician says he's going to do something; that something happens by itself.

An example might be the untying handkerchief

4 The magician does something and is caught and when he confesses it's not what the audience thought - nor what the magician thought either.

An example might be the egg bag where the magician pretends to put the egg under his arm and when caught he goes for the egg and when it's not there the magician is confused (and the audience fooled).

(This of course is a "sucker effect" but instead of the audience being the sucker the magician is the victim.)

5 The magician and the audience are on different planes as to what each sees.

An example might be the invisible deck routine or David Roth's "Legendary Four Coin Trick"

(This is "Whimsical Perverse Magic")

6 The performer explains something that will happen but he doesn’t understand why it happens. Or perhaps something goes wrong and the performer may look in a book and then do something meaningless and what he wanted to happen happens though he doesn’t understand why.

With Perverse Magic the magician does not appear to be "better than everyone" (as is the case with so many performers) but plays the part of an ordinary guy who gets caught up in what happens. It does take acting but the style is appropriate for many effects including the classics - both close up and platform.

Also with Perverse Magic one can do just one effect – which is often the most effective way for an amateur magician to impress an audience.

This effect was brought to my attention by old friends who are no longer with us, Peter Marshall and Harvey Cohen. This effect appears on page 156 of The Classic Magic of Larry Jennings but I changed the effect a bit so that it can be presented as the second classification of Perverse Magic. The performer says he’sgoing to do a trick but something else happens.

Effect

A borrowed shuffled deck is used and the performer asks a spectator to touch a card, not to look at it and place it face down on the table. The spectator does. The performer says he is going to run through the deck and by studying the cards he will determine the selected card.

The performer looks at the faces of the deck and then says, “Okay, I know your card is a 4 – but I’m not sure which 4. Look.”

The performer turns the deck face up and deals cards to the table until a spectator tells him to stop.

“I really don’t understand how this happens but look, you stopped me here and here’s a 4.” But it’s not a 4 – it’s a 9! The performer is confused.

“Look, if I count down 4 in this half there’s a 4 ---” But it’s not – it’s another 9!—“A-and - and if I count down 4 in this half ---” another 9!

He turns over the face down card that the spectator selected and – the last 9. The performer scratches his head in confusion.

Method

1 It’s best to do this with a borrowed deck. Note the top card and get another card of the same value to the top.

This is Classic Forced but not looked at and left face down on the table.

2 Run through the deck “looking for a clue of the selected card” and while doing so:

A Downjog the face up card in a position (in this case) 3rd from the bottom (one less than the 4).

B When you come to the next – in this case 9, put in behind the downjogged card (so that it will be fourth from the bottom).

C Downjog the first four cards from the top.

F The last 9 goes here.

So now there is a 9 on top, a 9 fifth from top, a 9 fourth from the bottom and a 9 face down on the table.

3 Then:

A Begin to deal face up from the bottom of the deck and after passing the 9 tell the spectator to “say stop” wherever he wants.

When he says “stop” turn the cards in your left-hand face down and say, “I know that your card is a 4.”

B Turn over top card of what was left hand packet and show a 9 You missed..

C Confused, you count 4 cards from top onto the table and show another 9. More confusion.

D Pick up the face up packet, turn it face down and count 4 showing the third 9.

E Finally turn over the selected card and show a 9.

Shrug and say, “I really don’t understand how this happened!”

Notes

1 If this is NOT done with a borrowed deck but with your own then step 2 can be eliminated and the set up done beforehand.

2 In Step 1, if you miss the Classic Force do another effect. One such effectmight be a “4 Ace Trick” but instead of using aces, use the card selected and the three mates of the card selected.

(It’s a good way to do a “4 Ace Trick” because the spectator selected the cards to be used.)

1 I walked into the party with my wife Linda and immediately my friend Frank handed me a deck of cards and told me to do a trick for Carol and Bob, a couple standing there that I hadn’t met before. Linda looked up at the ceiling.

“Well, okay. I just learned a mind reading trick and I haven’t had a chance to try it yet. Here, take a card,” I said as I spread the deck for Carol as she took a card and looked at it. She put it back into the deck and I shuffled the deck.

I concentrated and then said, “Your card was – I hope I remember this – the 5H—”

“Wrong,” laughed Carol, not really expecting that I would get it.

“I guess I did something wrong. Let me try something I know how to do.

2 “Look, here’s the AS,” I say as I turn over the top card. “I’ll put it in my pocket.

“And here’s the 4D. Let me put it on your hand.” I say as I turn over the next card and put it face down on Joan’s palm.

“Now if I just snap my fingers---“ I do—“ The 4D is in my pocket and the AS is in your hand.”

3 “Frank, would you take a card. Let me try that mind reading again. Put it back. Let’s see. Was it the 9C?”

“Wow! Yeah! How did you---?”

4 “But I don’t know why I couldn’t get Carol’s thought of card. Was it the JC?”

Carol smiles and shakes her head.

“What was it?”

“The 7H.”

I make a confused look. “I don’t understand this.” I look through the deck. “I don’t think there’s a 7H here.”

I give Carol the deck and put my left hand in my left pocket looking very confused. Nothing. I shake my head. I then put my right hand in my right pocket and – and to my surprise and everyone else’s I come out with the 7H.

“I really don’t understand . I have to look up that trick.”

Discussion

I had contributed “Flaunt It” to Harry Lorayne’s Apocalypse and it appears in the September 1987 issue on page 1397. As noted there, the idea came to me from something a magic friend Bob Hyans showed me – a way to do the regular 2 card transposition (i) without having to do the third double lift (or top change), not having to use a duplicate card and (iii) not having to “clean up” the extra card.

In the setting above, it’s at a friend’s house but if this was done professionally as walk around magic, I wouldn’t start with this because if you go over to ‘strangers”and the first thing you do is “miss” you may quickly lose your audience. In such a case, therefore, some other quick trick should precede this routine, perhaps with something other than cards.

And, as I’ve said before, Perverse Magic can be just one feature in a magic performance.

Method

The numbers below correspond with the numbers under Effect above.

1 Simple. A card is selected and brought to the top.

But, while it’s not necessary, I prefer to do two things here:

A I like to set the deck so that the cards that will change places in step 2 are contrasting cards. It’s not too effective to have the 9S change places with the 9C.

Therefore, as I’m given the deck I set the 2nd and 3rd card to be contrasting (here AS and 4D)

B I like to know the card selected so I’m sure NOT to name it. (If you do anything after can’t be as strong.) So I usually do a Classic Force.

2 A Double lift – top card (selected card in 1 above) goes to pocket

B Another double lift and card seen in A goes on woman’s hand

C Take deck in right hand in position to do the one hand card palm.

The left hand turns over the card on woman’s hand as right hand one hand-palms the top card and then goes into the pocket to produce it showing the cards changed places.

3 Another Classic Force after glimpsing the top card. This time have the card put back and have the spectator hold the deck.

4 Here you act confused as you look through the deck but do it quickly so as not to lose your audience. Then give the spectator the deck.

By going to my left pocket first I’m showing both hands empty without saying anything.

Then, when my empty right hand goes to my right pocket they see clearly that it’s empty.

I’ve previously explained in this thread how I think rocks that can be found in a garden make excellent props for Perverse Magic (see above on this thread February 1, 2004 Rocks In Shoe and February 1, 2006 Perverse Rock using a woman’s diamond ring, and December 1, 2009 Unusual Objects – Unusual Places – Rocks – which includes the reverse – having a rock change to a coin. Also see the Close Up thread of November 18, 2002. )

Effect

At a dinner table the magician says he just learned a new trick and asks to borrow a quarter. Someone gives one to him.

He announces he’s going to make the quarter into a half dollar.

He puts the quarter in his left hand and snaps his right hand fingers and when he opens his left hand, the quarter is gone but instead of a half dollar there is - a rock.

I must have done something wrong!!!

Method

1 The rock is “Classic Palmed” in the left hand.

2 The quarter is taken in the right hand and shown as it lies at the base of the 2nd and third fingers (middle and ring finger).

The right hand closes as it turns palm down and the coin falls to the fingertips.

It is Classic Palmed in the right hand.

The right hand, still palm down, has the thumb touching the fingertips as if it is holding the coin which his now Classic Palmed.

3 The right hand pretends to place the coin into the left hand which closes ads it would if it held a coin (it holds the rock Classic Palmed).

4 The left hand raises as the right hand drops for a moment to the table top lapping the quarter and IMMEDIATELT comes up and snaps its fingers over the left hand.

5 The rock is shown instead to the expected half dollar. The magician is confused.

I said before on this thread (February 1, 2012 above) that “the whole act need not be Perverse Magic – an incident (or maybe two) may be enough. I recall Roy Benson doing his beautiful billiard ball routine using 2 inch white balls when suddenly a red ball appears and Benson looks confused and looks in a book.”

Then again perhaps the magician’s style is such that the entire act can be Perverse Magic.

I also strongly believe in “Routining” - that is, as said on page 247 of “The Royal Road to Card Magic” “so that the fullest effect can be drawn from each feat and so that they will follow one another smoothly--.”

I find few magicians that follow this rule and, as a consequence the audience won’t remember what was done.

I have described several Ambitious card routines on this thread and at the beginning (December 21, 2002) I describe a routine that I use:

“I have a card selected and say it will come to the top and it’s not there – another card (say 4C) is there. I bury the 4C and try again but again the 4C is there. I spell the selected card but at the end it’s the 4C. finally I say I’ll do the trick with the 4Cand say it will go to my pocket but when I reach into my pocket it’s the selected card. I’m surprised and frustrated.”

(This is explained on this thread - see above January 1, 2015.)

What follows is another Ambitious Card that has the Perverse Magic only at the end.

1 The magician has a card selected and then goes into an Ambitious card routine with the selected card.

2 After a few “to the top” sequences the magician has a spectator shuffle the deck. Once again the selected card comes to the top.

3 The magician has the spectator sign the face of the selected card.

4 It is again buried into the deck and the deck is cut and this time the card is on the bottom.

5 “What I really don’t understand is that the card you selected is – well – it’s from another deck.”

The magician turns over the card and to his and everyone’s surprise, while the deck is blue backed the selected card has a red back.

The magician gives the spectator the card to keep.

Preparation

Two decks are used, a red and a blue. The red is kept in a left pocket and the blue is used.

In the right trouser pocket place one card from the blue deck and under that one card from the red deck.

The blue backed duplicate of the red card is on top of the deck being used.

Method

The numbers below correspond with the numbers under Effect above.

1 The top card – the blue back duplicate of the red back card in magicians’s pocket is forced.

It is suggested that the Classic Force be used as if you miss you can do another effect first.

2 There are a number of Perverse Ambitious Card effects on this thread. In this case I would suggest it not be too long but in this phase only a few “to the top” sequences should be done.

The deck is given to the spectator to shuffle. As he does his hands are empty. His hands go to his trouser pockets, the right on top of the two cards in the right pocket and the left in the left trouser pocket. It is a casual pose and should not arouse suspicion.

The magician takes back the deck, adds the two cards that were in his pocket, riffles the deck, does a double lift and shows the “Ambitious Card”.

3 The spectator signs the face of the red back card.

4 The two cards are turned face down as one and then pushed into the center of the deck, a break is held below the signed card and it is cut to the bottom.

5 If this is done as walk around magic all that must be done is take another card from the red back deck, put its duplicate from the blue back deck on top of the deck being used and take any card from the blue back deck and put it on the red back card in your pocket.

Background

I think I got the idea for this from Phil Goldstein’s “Remembrance Of Cards Past” from page 128 of Apocalypse (November 1978).

Spelling to a selected card – that is – dealing one card for each letter – as for example “f-o-u-r—o-f—c-l-u-b-s’ and finding the 4C at that spot is a popular effect of card magic and can be presented as Perverse Magic in the 6th category of Perverse Magic – the performer explains something that will happen but he doesn’t understand why it happens (see above November 1, 2011 under “Cigarettes”).

I use three different presentations of spelling effects, two of which originated with effects in “The Royal Road To Card Magic”, the first, “Double Speller” on page 163 and the second “Gray’s Spelling Trick” on page 63. I’ll describe my handling of all:

(Also – as with most effects – I don’t perform them as suggested but use my own style and handling. So, for example, I don’t believe it’s necessary to use The Pass to control the card in Double Speller and I don’t trust the spectator to correctly mentally spell the card in Gray’s Spelling trick.

Effect – Double Speller

A card is selected, say the AD, and put back in the deck and the deck is shuffled.

“I don’t understand why this works but let me try it. Here, hold the deck,” says the magician as he gives the spectator the deck to hold.

“Your card was the 5S now watch,” say the magician as he pulls one card for each letter of the 5S from the deck the spectator is holding and when he’s done shows that the last card remaining on the spectator’s hand is the 5S. “I really don’t understand how that works,” he says.

“But that wasn’t my card,” says the spectator. The magician is confused. “What was your card?” “It was the AD.” The magician scratches his head. “Let me try that again,” and again he pulls one card from the packet the spectator is holding for each letter of AD and this time when he’s done the AS is face up on top of the pile in the spectator’s hand. “I really don’t know how that works,” says the magician looking confused.

Effect – Gray Spelling Trick

I prefer the Double Speller BUT – sometimes the audience will sort of feel sorry for you when you name the wrong card and successfully spell it and NOT say it’s the wrong card.

If I feel the spectator may do that I will use this version.

Here the card is selected and shuffled back and the deck is given to the spectator to shuffle. When the magician gets the deck back he runs spreads the deck face up telling the spectator to make sure the card is still there. Then he gives the deck to the spectator and asks the spectator for the name of the card and again, as in the Double Speller version above, pulls off one card for each letter and at the end shows the selected card, confused as to how it works.

Effect – Where the Heck Is That Card

Here again the card is selected and shuffled back and the deck is given to the spectator to shuffle. When the magician gets the deck back he asks for the name of the card and pulls off one card for each letter and at the end shows – an indifferent card!

He is confused and looks through the deck but can’t find the card and gives the deck to a spectator while the magician reaches into his pockets with empty hands and then finds the selected card and he is puzzled as to how the selected card left the deck and wound up in his pocket.

Method – Double Speller

1 The card is forced using the Classic Force and controlled to the top when returned.

2 I perform the Braue Reverse – I get a break under the top (selected) card and take about half of the cards from the bottom, turn them face up and put them on top. I take all the cards below the break, turn them face up and put them on top. The deck is face up and the selected card is face down on the bottom.

3 Holding the deck face up I perform an Overhand Shuffle and run one card for each letter of the selected card from the bottom to my left hand and then drop the deck on those cards in my left hand. The selected card is face up in “spell” position.

4 I glimpse the top card and repeat what I did in 3 for the value (not the suit) of the glimpsed card and drop the deck on that. I turn the deck face down and do a jog shuffle for the suit of the glimpsed card,

Method – Gray’s Spelling Trick

1 The card is forced using the Classic Force and lost in the deck. The deck is give to the spectator to shuffle

2 When you spread the deck face up for the spectator to “make sure the card is still there” you “spell the card” silently – one card for each letter and break when you’re done (if you run out of cards start again at the bottom).

The selected card will be in “spell position.

Method - Where the Heck Is That Card

A card is freely selected and controlled to the top and palmed and the deck given to a spectator to shuffle. Both hands are put into your pants pockets and you act very as the deck is shuffled. Then remove both hands and ask the spectator for the deck and you spell the selected card.

The reason here is to avoid a “timing problem” that is – having the audience lose interest when the selected card isn’t found at the “spell location”. By you dealing:

(i) you spell and the selected card is, of course, not at the spell location,

(ii) you quickly run through the deck looking for the card and

(iii) drop the deck back on the table.

You look puzzled and start looking for the selected card, first in your left pocket and then, in your right pocket (where the card is).

Pull out something else from your right pocket (keys, a handkerchief, etc) and then, still puzzled, the selected card and when you do you look at it confused.

The performer has just performed “Cooper-Silver With a Dime and a Penny” in the spectator’s hand (see above – this thread – October 1, 2007) and now he takes her two hands, has her cup them and holds them in his hands.

Suddenly a Charm candy falls into her cupped hands. The magician is puzzled and looks up at the ceiling trying to ascertain where the candy came from.

Discussion

1 I saw Michael Ammar perform his Coins Across ending with the last coin going to the spectator’s hand from Michael’s head. (See Magic Arts Journal September 1986)

I liked that effect but not with coins.

2 I like to do effects with candy (See Miser’s Dream for Kids this thread above June 2005) especially with wrapped candy that can be given away and eaten.

3 The Charm (or coin in the Ammar effect) is placed on the top of the performer’s head. You should experiment with this until you’re comfortable that it won’t fall. When you tilt your head forward the Charm will fall into the spectator’s open hands. Again you should experiment as to where the Charm will fall so that it does go into the spectator’s hand.

4 It is dangerous to walk around with the Charm on your head so I like to have it there for the shortest period of time.

Also, I like to load the charm on my head when the spectators are not watching me very closely. The best time would be right after having completing Cooper – Silver when the spectators are laughing.

Also – I like this to follow another effect – Cooper- Silver – done in the spectator’s hands.

It’s an interlude and not an effect done alone but it’s effective. And by being puzzledAlong with the spectators we have a good example of Perverse Magic.

It is a wonderful - and yes - charming idea! Great thinking, thank you!

And it has given me an idea (happens at least once per decade).

When I do coins across I do it with 4 coins, from my hand to the spectator's hands (especially a female). I started doing it that way many years ago when I saw the phenomenal reaction Paul Gertner got in doing it that way for a group of laymen/women. Dingle, and of course many others, have done it/do it that way.

After 3 coins have made their way from my hand to hers, for the "last coin," I take the easy way out, manually placing it on the stack of 3 coins already in her hand (with an accompanying witty line) then, pick up the whole stack and count the "four" coins into her hand. One "coin" (i.e., the s _e _ l _) is then removed from her hand, as I close her hand over the other (what they believe are) 3 coins, but actually 4.

I place the coin just removed from her hand in my pocket, telling her to keep her hand closed tightly, proclaiming that I will make the coin jump from my pocket back into her hand (thus blatantly breaking the rule of not saying in advance what is going to happen - but somehow works well, creating anticipation, focusing attention, setting up the reaction better). Fingers are then snapped, some magic words are uttered, and she is asked to open her hand and count the (four) coins aloud, one-by-one

Gerald's post triggered the idea that when that "fourth coin" is pocketed, what a perfect time to steal a charm from the pocket and then load it on the head under cover of the surprise when she opens her hand, and aided by the strong misdirection of her counting the coins. And what a delightful and magical way to thank her...

When I do coins across I do it with 4 coins, from my hand to the spectator's hands (especially a female). I started doing it that way many years ago when I saw the phenomenal reaction Paul Gertner got in doing it that way for a group of laymen/women. Dingle, and of course many others, have done it/do it that way.

After 3 coins have made their way from my hand to hers, for the "last coin," I take the easy way out, manually placing it on the stack of 3 coins already in her hand (with an accompanying witty line) then, pick up the whole stack and count the "four" coins into her hand. One "coin" (i.e., the s _e _ l ) is then removed from her hand, as I close her hand over the other (what they believe are) 3 coins, but actually 4.

I place the coin just removed from her hand in my pocket, telling her to keep her hand closed tightly, proclaiming that I will make the coin jump from my pocket back into her hand (thus blatantly breaking the rule of not saying in advance what is going to happen - but somehow it works well, creating anticipation, focusing attention, and setting up the reaction better). Fingers are then snapped, some magic words are uttered, and she is asked to open her hand and count the (four) coins aloud, one-by-one

Gerald's post triggered the idea that when that "fourth coin" is pocketed, what a perfect time to steal a charm (or Hershey Kiss) from the pocket and then load it on the head under cover of the surprise when she opens her hand, and aided by the strong misdirection of her counting the coins. And what a delightful and magical way to thank her...

Chapter Twenty-One of the Dai Vernon Book of Magic is “The Last Trick of Dr. Jacob Daley”. I’ve never been that interested in this effect until I saw my friend Dan Miller perform it in a much simpler and more direct way than the way it was originally written, Dan did not remember where he had seen this approach.

Anyway, I thought this would be a good Perverse Magic interlude between some effects done with the four aces.

Effect

1 After doing a trick with the four aces, the magician remembers something. “I just.remembered a trick with the four aces. Let me try it.”

2 The magician shows the four aces face up and turns the packet face down. He tells the young woman to hold out her hands. He turns the top card face up and shows the Ace of Spades. He turns it face down and deals it onto her left hand.

3 The magician counts the three face down cards in his hand and turns the top card face up and shows the Ace of Clubs. He turns it face down and deals it onto the woman’s right hand.

4 “Okay, you have the Ace of Spades in your left hand and the Ace of Clubs in your right hand. Now watch. By magic I’m going to make those cards change places.”

The magician snaps his fingers and turns over the card in the woman’s left hand but instead of it now being the Ace of Clubs, it’s the Ace of Hearts.

The magician is confused. He turns over the card in her right hand and is more surprised to see it is the Ace of Diamonds.

He turns over the two cards he is holding, which he thought was the red aces and to his utter confusion they are the black aces.

He shakes his head and says, “I just don’t understand---.”

Method

The numbers below correspond with the numbers above.

1 As noted this is an interlude following a four-ace trick or between several four ace tricks. As I noted before on this thread, Perverse Magic can be just that – an interlude. I remember seeing Roy Benson in the course of performing his billiard ball routine, which he did with 2 inch white balls, suddenly, and to his surprise, he produced a red ball and to me that was a great example of Perverse Magic.

2 The aces are held face up with the black aces in the center and the red aces on the ends. The magician turns the packet face down and spreads them and gets a break under the second card. That makes it easy to do a Double Lift and show a black ace but have the two face up cards injogged a bit. That makes it easy to again do a Double Lift in turning the cards) face down. A red card goes on the woman’s hand.

3 You now have two black aces over a red ace and you want the red ace on top and that’s done by just counting the three face down cards reversing their order. A Double Lift is done to show the other black ace and with three cards this is easy by buckling the bottom card - which is done with pressure from the left index finger on the face of the bottom card. The two cards are turned face down the same way.

4 Good acting here – and good Perverse Magic!

Note – as I’ve said before on this thread, in Perverse Magic I believe that what happens must be stronger than what you say will happen. Here, the transposition of the red aces and the black aces is stronger than just the transposition of the black aces with each other.

Back on this thread – June 1, 2013, I posted the Perverse Two Bill Trick that I had contributed to the July 1996 issue of Apocalypse. There is a similar effect that I, together with my friend Peter Marshall contributed to the October 1997 issue (page 2853) which is also good Perverse Magic.

Effect

The magician borrows two singles and crumpling them into balls, takes one ball in his right hand and the other in his left. He says he will make them stick together and he slaps them together but only one bill falls to the table. Confused, he opens the bill and finds – a two dollar bill. Confused, he puts the bill in his wallet and finds – two wrinkled singles – which he gives back to the lender.

Preparation

As noted in the Perverse Two Dollar Bill Trick, you have two crumpled and then opened two one dollar bills in your wallet.

Also a crumpled two dollar bill on your lap.

Method

1 Borrow two one dollar and give one to a spectator to crumple while you crumple the other.

2 Reach forward with your left hand to take the bill the spectator has and at the same time let your right hand drop to your lap. Leave the bill the right hand holds on your lap and pick up the crumpled two dollar bill. As you lean back bright the right hand – that now holds the crumpled two dollar bill goes onto the table next to the left hand holding the bill the spectator has crumpled.

3 Show the crumpled bills on your hands which are open with the knuckles of the pinkies on the edge of the table. Now as both hands close you perform Slydini’s Revolve Vanish.

The hands close and “revolve” pivoting on the pinky knuckles (i) closing and (ii) moving forward allowing the crumpled bill in the left palm to fall to your lap.

4 You “clap” your hands together allowing the single bill – the crumpled two dollar bill to fall to the table. You are confused – it didn’t work – and then more confused when the single bill is opened and you find a two dollar bill.

5 You never say or claim that the crumpled but straightened bills from your wallet are the borrowed bills but some will think they are and you just act like you don’t understand.

I, like so many magicians don’t do magic professionally and therefore, when I perform I can stop when I want. I say this because I find it’s better to do less than too much. So many amateur magicians just don’t know when to stop and can wind up boring their audience – who may be their friends. And with Perverse Magic it’s easy to stop after one effect – if the effect is good.

This effect started with my reading Francis Carlyle’s Card Transposition in Dai Vernon’s “Ultimate Secrets of Card Magic” and then I had comments from Peter Marshall, Bob Hyans and Sol Stone from 1989 and 1990. I also have used input from Harry Lorayne’s Strange Voyage in his “The Magic Book”

Effect

1 “Here he is. Hey Jerry, here’s a deck. Show my friends a trick.” I take the deck, look at it, and then I take a paper from my pocket and look at it.

“Okay, I just learned a new trick. I should practice it first but – well you guys are my friends so what the heck. Here take a card. Good. Show it to everyone.”

2 “Okay, put the card back and let me give the deck a few cuts and I’m going to cut right to your card..”

3 I cut the cards and turn up the KH. “There.” And I deal the card face down to the table and put the deck down next to it. The trick is over. I put my hands in my pockets and relax.

4 “Uhhh – no Jerry. That wasn’t my card.” I scratch my head, take out the paper, look at it and looking confused I ask what card did you take.

“The 2C”, says the friend.

5 Still looking confused, I turn over the face down card and it’s the 2C.

6 I put the paper back in my pocket and feel something and – and I pull out the KH.

“I really don’t understand this. I have to practice.”

I smile.

Method

The numbers below correspond with the numbers under Effect.

1 When I take the deck I want to makes sure that the top card and the card beneath it are very different. The problem to avoid is having a selected card being say, the 2C and the card shown the 2S. So in this example the 2C is on top and the KH 2nd from the top.

I Classic Force the 2C (the Hindu Shuffle Force can be used here too).

2 I have the card placed back in the same place.

I toss the top half of the deck on the selected card so that the front edge to that top portion hits the bottom portion first which will create a natural jog. This is called “The Drop Jog”.

3 I get a break under the injog and double cut the selected card to the top.

I Double Lift and show the KH. I deal the top card – the 2C to the table. I palm the now top card – the KH in my right hand.

I put the deck down and put both hands in my pockets leaving the palmed KH.

4,5,6 No comment needed.

Good Perverse Magic – and there’s no need to do another trick at this time,

1 You and your wife are invited to a friend’s house and there are others there too.

“Show my friends a trick,” says your friend as he hands you a deck of cards. You don’t think it’s an appropriate time or place to perform so you decide to do one trick and by doing a “Perverse Magic” effect you (i) will entertain and amuse and (ii) have an excuse not to do more than one effect.

2 You run through the deck and remove the 4 aces and carefully and cleanly bury them into the deck. You give the deck a shuffle and hand the deck to one of the women there.

“See, the aces are lost in the deck and I’m going to give you the magic power to find the aces. Cut the deck into four piles. Good.”

Now you have the woman:

3 Pick up the first pile and shuffle it and then deal three cards to the bottom and one to each of the other piles.

4 Pick up the second pile and bury the top three cards in the center.

5 Pick up the third pile deal three cards to the bottom and one to each pile.

6 Finally pick up the last pile, deal one to the bottom, bury the next card and deal one to each of the other three piles.

7 “Great, you say, “Now look, I gave you the power to find all the aces.” But when you turn over the top card of each pile they are not aces but – fives! “Oh gosh – I did something wrong.”

Background

Poker Players Picnic is the second trick in “The Royal Road To Card Magic” and is very popular with magicians. I have always felt that the spectator can easily reconstruct the effect of ‘three to the bottom and one to each pile”. And by varying the dealing from each pile you will lead spectators away from being able to easily reconstruct what was done.

I posted a similar effect on this thread above on May 1, 2004 called “Cutting The Aces” and another on September 1, 2015 called “Cutting The Aces -2”.Method

The numbers below correspond with the numbers in “Effect”.

2 As I explained in Cutting The Aces that I posted on May 1, 2004, I want to use a spot card as the "wrong card". As I pick up the deck to find the 4 aces, I note the top card. If it's a spot card good - if not I cut a spot card to the top.I then go thru the deck face up looking for the four aces and as I come to the other spot cards matching the one on top I cut them to the top as well.

(Note that you don't want to hold up getting the aces looking for the spot cards but the fact that the first is already on top helps. Also, I pass over the first ace just in case I have to come back to look for one of the spot card.)

So the four aces are on the table and 4 spot cards of the same value are on top.

Then I insert the four aces in different parts of the face down deck. Really! (And this will fool magicians!)”

Then I give the deck a jog shuffle keeping the four spot cards of the same value on top.

3 By having a spectator shuffle the first pile it may lead everyone to think every pile was shuffled – though you don’t say that.

4,5,6 Again, I have always felt that the spectator can easily reconstruct the effect of ‘three to the bottom and one to each pile”. Varying the dealing from each pile will lead spectators away from being able to easily reconstruct what was done.

7 “Oh gosh – I did something wrong.” Note it’s my mistake not the spectator’s. This is important. So many magicians make fools of spectators (My wife was humiliated as a young girl when a magician embarrassed her with a breakaway wand. But she married me anyway.)

A lot of the Perverse Magic I do is very quick simple things that most magicians would scoff at but, as I’ve said many times in this thread, I believe that in doing magic, entertainment is the most important thing.

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For an extended period of magic (as opposed to just doing a quick simple effect as here), I believe routining is very important and what effects follow each other must be carefully considered. Even for card tricks. Especially for card tricks.

Most magicians don’t realize that it’s a tough task for spectators to have to remember a selected card. If they don’t they will think (i) they will look foolish and (ii) they will ruin the trick and (iii) the magician will be mad at them and (iv) everyone will hate them. What pressure!

That’s why the Ambitious Card (and I’ve posted many variations of that effect on this thread and I have another great version that I hope to post soon) is such a good effect – or series of effects with only one card that has to be remembered.

When I do walk around and I do a series of card tricks (not more than 4 and they’re quick) I usually use the same selected card.

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Sometimes the situation calls for something quick and unexpected and as I’ve mentioned here too, the squeaker is a prop I use often.

(I guess you all know about squeakers. You can get them from many dealers such as Bob Little.)

If I’m to wait in an office (dentist, doctor, client) or a restaurant there is usually a receptionist that too often is bored. And there’s always a pen lying on her desk.

If the pen has a cap I would palm a quarter in my right hand – if it does not have a cap I would palm a quarter in my left hand.

I would have the squeaker in my right hand and a quarter classic palmed in my left hand. I would ask “What kind of a pen is that?” as I would touch the pen with my right index finger and have it squeak.

I would look surprised pick up the pen with (i) my left fingers if the quarter is palmed in my left hand or (ii) my right hand if the quarter is palmed in that hand. . Picking up the pen with the fingers of the hand that has the quarter makes the hand appear empty. If the coin is palmed in my left hand I transfer the pen to my right fingers and then with my left hand I pull the quarter “from the pen”. If the coin is palmed in my right hand - see “Oh You Have One Of Those Pens” on this thread November 1, 2014.

I put the pen down on the desk and look more confused.

I take the quarter in my right hand and put it and the squeaker in my right pocket and shrug. You’ll at least get a smile and you will have brightened her day.

I might then take out the quarter and give it to the receptionist as it, after all, came from her pen.

It’s Perverse Magic. I’m not saying how good I am to the receptionist – I don’t understand and I’m confused.

And, as it’s so quick and unexpected it can be just the right thing at the right time for the bored receptionist.

1 “I’ll tell you how I find your card,” says the magician to the attractive young lady. “I just look for your fingerprints. I’ll show you. Take a card.”

The young lady does and the magician has her return the card to the deck and he shuffles the deck.

2 The magician looks at the back of the top card and says, “Nope. No print here.” He turns the card face up and shows the Ace of Spades. It was her card. She feels badly for him but doesn’t say anything. The magician deals the card face down to the table.

3 The magician looks at the back of the now top card and again says it’s not the card, turns the card face up and face down again and deals it to the table next to the face down Ace of Spades.

4 The magician looks at the back of the now top card again and this time says – “This is it! See the fingerprint on the back?” The young woman sees nothing on the back and feels badly because she knows her card – the Ace of Spades – is face down on the table. The magician turns over the card and - and it’s the Ace of Spades!

5 The magician is confused as he drops the Ace of Spades face up on the table and turns over the first card and finds more to his confusion (and the young lady’s amazement) that it is now an indifferent card.

6 The magician reaches into his pocket and pulls out an instruction sheet and reads it and shrugs, still confused. “I don’t know. I just don’t understand. And it says that the fingerprint gets clearer after a while.” He turns over the Ace of Spades and there on the back is a woman’s fingerprint, clear as day.

7 The magician shakes his head and walks away leaving the instruction sheet. The young lady picks it up and it says, “A Good Card Trick For A Shy Fellow To Do To Impress An Attractive Woman. A few minutes later the magician feels someone tapping him on the shoulder and when he turns around it is the young lady.

COMMENTS

1 This, of course, is “The Fingerprint Card Trick” that appears in“My Best” and Volume One of “The Vernon Chronicles”. That effect is similar to“ Dunbury Delusion” which is in “Expert Card Technique”.

2 I prefer the “fingerprint” presentation done in a Perverse Magic slant.

3 It was my friend Peter Marshall that suggested using three and not five cards for this.

4 I ended with the Fingerprint on the Card and my notes (made September 23,1990) don’t indicate where I got this from. It may be mine but if it’s not I apologize for not giving credit.

5 I always use the Ace of Spades for this effect. When you show their card and say it’s not their card, the spectator may come to the conclusion that they must have taken the “mate” (that is, if the selected card was the Four of Clubs, the spectator may think they took the Four of Spades) but that won’t happen with the Ace of Spades.

PREPARATION.

1 You need a duplicate Ace of Spades.

2 With a rubber stamp put a fingerprint on the back of one Ace of Spades.

3 The prepared Ace of Spades goes on the bottom of the deck.

4 The “clean” Ace of Spades goes on the top of the deck.

5 “Instructions” in right trouser pocket.

ROUTINE

(The numbers below correspond with the numbers in the EFFECT.)

1 I lift up about half the deck keeping my left thumb on the top card and move the top half to the right which has the Ace of Spades “slipped” to the lower half.

I assemble the deck holding a break and then “Classic Force the Ace of Spades.

I extend the top half of the deck and then run two cards, injog and shuffle and then toll the remaining cards in my right hand BELOW the cards in my left hand so that the prepared Ace of Spades is again on the bottom. The selected card is third card under the injogged card in the center.

I cut at the injog and with my left hand I thumb off about half of the lower packet and then insert the top half into that space. That brings the prepared Ace of Spades to the bottom and the selected Ace of Spades third from the top.

2 A triple lift to show the Ace of Spades.

3 A single lift.

4 A double lift.

5 When they see the Ace of Spades it’s as if the effect is over and everyone is relaxed. You do the following:

* Put you left thumb under the deck and turn the deck face up.

* Push off the face up Ace of Spades on the face and get a break under it.

* Put the selected Ace of Spades on the face up deck.

* The fingers of the right hand go under the two Ace of Spades under the break.

* The bottommost Ace of Spades is pulled off (being careful not to show the back) as the left hand turns faces to you so that the bottom Ace of Spades can’t be seen.

* The Ace of Spades in your right hand is dropped face up on the table.

* The Ace of Spades on the bottom of the deck is palmed in the right hand.

6 The right hand goes to the pocket to (i) leave the palmed card and (ii) brings out the instructions.

In addition to giving the performer a reason to go to his pocket (to get rid of the palmed card), the instruction sheet brings the effect into the sixth category of Perverse Magic – instead of the performer saying “Ta da!” when the magic happens he goes for the instruction sheet to try to understand. I first saw Roy Benson do this during his brilliant billiard ball routine when, as he was producing two inch white ball a red ball suddenly appeared and Benson looked confused and looked in a book to try to understand what happened.

7 Of course the instruction sheet can say anything you want it to say.